Translation Series - Gita Bhashya - Introduction 1/3

[Raghavendra Hebbalalu]

namassarvebhyaH,
     It is very heartening to see shrI-vidyashankar
resume his posting of the translation of the gItA
bhAShya. This prompted me to go through the copy of
the bhAShya I have. shrI-sacchidAnandendra-sarasvatI
has translated this work beautifully into the Kannada
language. As I read through the footnotes,I felt that
it would benefit me to post some relevant translated
notes along with shrI-vidyashankar's translation.
Hence this post.

Some notes :
The shloka "naaraayaNaH paro.avyaktaat.h..." is taken
from either the brahmANDa purANa or the mahAbhArata.
This shloka has been recognized as that of
kR^iShNa-dvaipAyana in the vArtika.

This shloka also indicates that the Self(or brahman or
nArAyaNa), which is higher than the manifest and
unmanifest, is the same as shrI-kR^iShNa-parabrahman,
described in the gItA.

About bhaumasya brahmaNaH brAhmaNatvasya
rakShaNArtham, it can be translated as  "to protect
the Supreme in the world, which is brAhmaNatva".

(The following is my own attempt in understanding this
part)
bhaumasya brahmaNaH : Here, bhauma is something
pertaining to the world(bhUmi) and brahman is Supreme.
Hence bhauma-brahma will mean that which is the best
in this world, and that is brAhmaNatva (or the state
of a brAhmaNa). The word seems to be in a similar vein
as the word bhUsura - or a god on earth - which refers
to a brAhmaNa.

But bhaumasya brahmaNaH brings about the paramount
importance of brAhmaNatva in this world.

Then the next sentence "brAhmaNatvasya hi rakshaNena
rakShitaH syAt vaidiko dharmaH" can be translated as
"Only by protecting the brAhmanhood can this vaidika
dharma be protected".

As Shri Ravishankar Mayavaram rightly mentioned, only
by protecting brAhmanhood (this is the varNAshrama
dharma of brAhmanhood), can vaidika dharma be
protected. And how is that ? tadadhInatvAd
varNAshramabhedAnAm. Because the divisions of varNa
and Ashrama follow brAhmaNatva.

Shri Ravishankar also mentioned the right analogy.
Society : brAhmaNatva:: Body : Head. By protecting the
brAhmaNatva, bhagavAn has ensured the protection of
the entire society.

My 2c.

dhanyavAdAH,
rAghavendra

> In the Mahabharata itself, the Shantiparvan has at
> least two occurrences of
> the phrase bhauma brahma, where it refers to the
> Vedas. One of these verses
> is a reference to the birth of Krishna as the son of
> Devaki and Vasudeva -
>
> yaM devaM devakii devii vasudevaad ajiijanat .
> bhaumasya brahmaNo guptyai diiptam agnim ivaaraNiH
> .. 12.47.18 ..
>
> It seems to me that Shankara has this reference in
> mind when he uses the
> phrase "bhaumasya brahmaNaH". The fact that he
> immediately refers to the
> vaidika dharma in the next sentence reinforces the
> idea that this phrase
> refers to the Vedas in the commentary also.



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